Tales of the Twilight City

The Slave Pits

The PCs wake to find a half-elf bard named Sierra waiting downstairs for them. Sierra explains that she has heard of the party’s exploits and would like to join their band. With little discussion, the PCs recruit her into their ranks. Lye Hazzlebottom then informs the PCs that someone is calling for them outside. Peering out a window, the party spots a dozen Tempus Temple Soldiers, a priestess of Tempus, and a nobleman. The nobleman introduces himself as Darrin Gendessen and explains that he is seeking revenge for the death of his brother, Chat Gendessen. It becomes clear Chat Gendessen was the noble who perished in “the Bear Incident.”

Some party members make for the roof while others charge through the front door. Grimner is frozen by a spell trap placed over the door by the priestess while More Gorey takes on the brunt of the Temple Guards. Celestia, Sierra, and Gimble fire from the roof before descending to aid the beleaguered dwarves. Temple soldiers burst into the inn to attack Gareth but he drops them with a sleep spell. Most of the soldiers are also dropped by a well placed sleep spell. The priestess proves difficult to hit but is put down as she is surrounded by the PCs. Darrin makes a break for it through back alleys though he is quickly apprehended by Celestia.

Lye asks the PCs to get out of the inn before more trouble arrives. The PCs pay someone to clear up the corpses of the Temple Guards while they take the remaining Bashers and a bound Darrin to their hut out in Lower Brackton.

On Tarsakh 13, Sierra manages to charm Darrin and explains to him the attack was the result of a betrayal by the house of Tempus. She also explains that he must stay in the hut for his own safety. He is at first skeptical but is eventually won over by the charming half-elf.
During the next couple days, the PCs heal their wounds and plot their next course of action. Gimble goes to the church of Mask and asks what information is known about the rival faction. The priests indicate that Seril the Blade is believed to be leading the rival faction, accompanied by Clod Lightfoot and Smiling Jerel. Meanwhile, More Gorey swings by Redfires Inn and notices that it is watched by Tempus Temple Soldiers. He then goes to Ravensborough before he is stopped and turned around by guards.

Celestia and Sierra head to the Mocking Maiden, the other major inn in New Robilar and tell stories of the cowardly attack by the Tempus worshippers. Though the city folk are reluctant at first to speak ill of the Temple of Tempus, Celestia and Sierra began to persuade their listeners that the worshippers of Tempus are a cowardly and untrustworthy lot.

On Tarsakh 12, having recovered from their wounds, the PCs head to the location mentioned by the severed head (see “Newcomers to Calaunt”). There, they find a derelict house that is guarded by several thieves. The PCs kill the first couple thieves that block their passage while two others disappear down a trap door in a fireplace. One of the thieves is taken alive and he says that he is loyal to the Shadowcloaks. Worried that he may have betrayed his former allies, Gimble slits the thief’s throat.

Gimble and More Gorey stay behind as the other PCs descend the trap door to track the thieves down. As Celestia makes her way down, she is pelted by rocks and arrows. Below a group of orcs led by an ogre guard the entrance into the underground lair. Sierra and Grimner descend and enter the fray. Sierra casts sleep on the group, knocking many the orcs out of commission as Celestia and Grimner cut the others down. One orc is taken captive and is passed up to Gimble and More Gorey for safe keeping. After discovering the group’s treasure, the PCs move on.

Finding one passage blocked by a load-bearing column, the PCs make their way into the sewer. Avoiding a trapped section of the sewer walkway, the group goes north in the direction of the sound of steady drumming. The drumming is revealed to be water dripping on a drum head stretched over an empty barrel. The PCs investigate the drum, careful not to stop the drumming, and find nothing of value.

Not finding any other passages, the PCs follow a narrow tunnel cut into the rock behind the “drum.” They come out into a larger chamber and surprise a group of orcs led by another orc covered in piercings and other religious fetishes. The religious leader is paralyzed by Grimner’s spells and the other orcs are slaughtered by the party. More orcs pore across from another lair and these are similarly killed.

The PCs advance through the room formerly blocked by the load bearing column and find a door stuffed with rags and emitting a foul smell. Garreth opens the door cautiously and is slightly burned as his lantern lights some of the escaping gas. The PCs quickly move through this room before the gas refills.

Traveling through a narrow tunnel, the PCs come to a large room with two columns and an obvious grid made of large beams. The party travels cautiously over the grid when Clod Lightfoot and Smiling Jerel spring from behind the columns. Smiling Jerel is incapacitated by Garreth’s spell as Clod Lightfoot knocks Sierra off balance. Sierra tumbles out of the grid, Clod yells “12” and a trapdoor drops Sierra into the slave pit. Celestia runs over and throws a rope, hauling Sierra out before the trap door shuts. Clod is then swarmed by the party and cut down. The party kills Smiling Jerel before passing into the passage on the other side of the room. As they do so, a young man runs up from a staircase abutting the passage. He is questioned briefly before he is killed.

The party finds a control room below the passage and uses the controls to open the pits and free the slaves therein. The slaves include a number of commoners and merchants. There is also a grizzled ex-member of the town guard named Lando and a curious scribe named Tormil. The slaves report seeing a woman, two men in robes and a smallish man cross into the back hallway some time ago. Most of the slaves are freed though Lando and Tormil lag behind.

Lando explains he is a veteran of the guard, though he has been kicked out for drinking. Lando agrees to fight by the party’s side as long as they equip him with arms and armor. Tormil explains he was a scribe with the church of Selune, though he explains he only worked there for the coin. He offers to pen the party’s story for a small fee and promises them their exploits will be retold for ages. Tormil then flees to the surface as the PCs push on.

The party comes across a stairway that Grimner discerns as trapped. The PCs yell down and the door opens. A voice from below challenges the party to come down. Garreth casts rain of blood into the lower area and Celestia’s keen senses pick up the presence of an invisible figure injured by the spell. She fires her bow and drops the invisible figure.

The foes below make for a back stairway but turn to attack as the PCs come bounding down. Seril the Blade waits below with a ferocious female warrior wielding a battle axe. The warrior proves resilient and Lando is nearly killed when backstabbed by Seril, but the party is victorious.

Looting one of the male robed figures, the PCs find a map leading to a spot in the Earthspur Mountains. The map is marked with the date Tarsakh 24, matching the date Alascartha is meant to close a big deal with the Iron Throne. The party recovers the rest of the treasure and finds a secret passage way that takes them back to the surface.